Portal:Biography

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edit   The Biography Portal Foxe's Book of Martyrs A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death), biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents the subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Biographical works in diverse media—from literature to film—form the genre known as biography. An autobiography is written by the subject him or herself, sometimes with a collaborator. An authorized biography is written with the cooperation of family and heirs, or of the subject if alive. More about Biography... edit   Featured biography Jocelin or Jocelyn (died 1199) was a 12th-century Cistercian monk and cleric who became the fourth Abbot of Melrose before becoming Bishop of Glasgow, Scotland. He was probably born in the 1130s, and in his teenage years became a monk of Melrose Abbey. He rose in the service of Abbot Waltheof, and by the time of the short abbacy of Waltheof's successor Abbot William, Jocelin had become prior. Then in 1170 Jocelin himself became abbot, a position he held for four years. Jocelin was responsible for promoting the cult of the emerging Saint Waltheof, and in this had the support of Enguerrand, Bishop of Glasgow. His Glasgow connections and political profile were already well-established enough that in 1174 Jocelin succeeded Enguerrand as Glasgow's bishop. As Bishop of Glasgow, he was a royal official. In this capacity he travelled abroad on several occasions, and performed the marriage ceremony between King William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont, later baptising their son, the future King Alexander II. Among other things, he has been credited by modern historians as "the founder of the burgh of Glasgow and initiator of the Glasgow fair", as well as being one of the greatest literary patrons in medieval Scotland, commissioning the Life of St Waltheof, the Life of St Kentigern and the Chronicle of Melrose. (Read more...) edit   Selected portrait Walt Whitman (born Walter Whitman) (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist born in West Hills, Huntington on Long Island in New York. Two of his most famous works are Franklin Evans and Leaves of Grass. (Read more...) Photo credit: George C. Cox (1887), Source: Library of Congress. edit   Things you can do Write an article Expand an article about: a person an actor an animator an artist a businessperson an educator an engineer a jurist a military person a musician a politician a scientist a sportsperson a writer a journalist Improve an article by: adding references helping to resolve a dispute Review an article William Bliss Baker • Joe Clifford Faust • Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo • A. R. Rahman • Anna Hazare • Heather O'Rourke • Johnny Bright • Frithjof Tidemand-Johannessen Assess an article Assessment requests Unassessed articles edit   Categories Biography • People By association • By behavior • By ethnicity • By gender • By language • By nationality By occupation: Academics • Scientists Actors • Artists • Comedians • Dancers • Directors • Musicians • Photographers • Playwrights • Writers Astronauts • Aviators • Explorers • Mountain climbers Businesspeople • Computer pioneers • Innovators Heads of state • Humanitarians • Journalists • Lawyers • Politicians • Warriors Sportspeople • Association football players • Baseball players • Basketball players • Olympians By place • By political orientation • By religion By status: Award winners • Billionaires • Celebrities By time • Lists of people ▼ Biography ► Biography awards ► Biographers ► Biography Channel shows ► Family history ► Biography journals ► Biographical museums ► Oral history ► Person databases ► Biographical works ► Biography portals ► WikiProject Biography edit   On this day – February 11 Births 1657 - Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (d. 1757) (pictured) 1800 - William Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer (d. 1877) 1847 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (d. 1931) 1919 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian-born actress (d. 1995) 1926 - Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor 1935 - Gene Vincent, American musician (d. 1971) 1962 - Sheryl Crow, American musician 1969 - Jennifer Aniston, American actress Deaths 1650 - René Descartes, French philosopher (b. 1596) 1797 - Antoine Dauvergne, French composer (b. 1713) 1868 - Léon Foucault, French astronomer (b. 1819) 1963 - Sylvia Plath, American writer (b. 1932) edit   Did you know... ... that Queen Victoria rescued Dash the Dog from a carriage accident? ... that Dutch merchant Hendrik Pieter Nicolaas Muller established the Oost-Afrikaansche Compagnie (East African Trading Company) in 1882, which was to be mainly successful in West Africa, and is a trade mark for quality in Liberia to this day. ... that Ronald Skirth, an artilleryman in the British Army during World War One, deliberately mistargeted British guns to prevent the loss of enemy life? ... that botanist Thomas Frederic Cheeseman (pictured) had a wide range of interests: he also described a few species of marine gastropods? ... former Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Lapwood was known as having the loudest voice in the New Zealand House of Representatives? ... that in 1951, Bulgarian politician and exile G. M. Dimitrov helped found the first Bulgarian NATO company? ... that Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick published a short book of favorite songs titled Louisiana Let's Sing in honor of her husband Claude's unsuccessful candidacy for Governor of Louisiana in 1963? ... that canal engineer Hugh Henshall was both pupil of and brother-in-law to James Brindley, the famous canal architect of the Industrial Revolution? ... that Jagadguru Rāmabhadrācārya (pictured), a Hindu religious leader who has been blind since the age of two months and never used Braille or any other aid to learn or compose, can speak 22 languages. edit   Quote of the week "It is not histories I am writing, but lives; the most glorious deeds do not always indicate virtue or vice, but a small thing like a phrase or a jest often reveals more of a character than the bloodiest battles." — Plutarch In Parallel Lives edit   WikiProjects List of WikiProjects and work groups that involve biography articles: Arts and entertainment Actors and Filmmakers Composers Canadian Dictionary of Biography Initiative Living persons Persondata Philosophers Saints Military Peers and Baronets Politics and government U.S. congresspersons U.S. presidents Royalty and nobility Science and academia Aerospace Sports and games Baseball players List of all WikiProjects See also: Biographies of living persons • Manual of Style (biographies) edit   Related portals Anthropology Astrology Community Criminal justice Culture Death Gangs Human rights LGBT Mind and Brain Personal life Philosophy Sexuality Social/political philosophy Thinking Transgender edit   Associated Wikimedia What are portals? 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